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Issue 4 Poetry

Motherless Mother

The most helpful piece of feedback for this particular piece was [the comment] that each stanza evoked images. This piece was inspired by an image I had of my mother when I was an infant. I wanted to shape a picture with as few words as I could. The tone from the beginning is somber, melancholic. “Broken Whistle” [and]”Empty Vessel” were phrases [that] sprung to mind when I imagined someone who is emotionally shattered. I felt that deep unspoken sadness a mother carries and decided to reflect on that. I personally liked the last stanza; I thought it captured what I wanted to express in the poem about a woman looking back on her life choices and regrets.

November Morning

Broken Whistle 

Midlife Scorning

Empty Vessel 

Babe Sleeping 

Mary Wept 

Promise Keeping

Old Debt 

Days Slave 

Cancun Dreams 

Pennies Save 

Any Means 

Cotton Milk 

Worlds Away 

Cheap Silk 

Never Stray

Salted Rain 

Loveless Hug 

Window Pain 

Sobering Drug 

Selfish Child 

Every Mood 

Plastic Smile 

Always Good 

Emotionally Smother

Depressingly Serene

Motherless Mother

Kingdomless Queen


Wolf Hernandez is a rising sophomore at DePaul University, studying Creative Writing. He focuses on poetry and short fiction/nonfiction. He enjoys to shoot pool and watch films.